“The task of building the L-Gate is now yours. We will leave Badab and enter the Maelstrom as soon as possible.” The Forging Sage nodded and said, “Our battle inside will inevitably cause a large number of alien pirates to escape from the Maelstrom. I’ll have to trouble you to take extra precautions.”

“With the equipment support generously given by you, Star Claw is confident that we can wipe out all the enemies of the empire that escape.” The Star Claw warrior who took over the archived file said solemnly.

In addition to the L-Stargate construction template, the 6th Expeditionary Fleet also provided Star Claws with a large amount of arms support, including 30 “Dawn” type Terminator armors and 10 Scholar I type mobile armors.

The “Dawn” Terminator Armor was produced by Anti-Entropy after improving the blueprints of the Dark Ages stored in its database. It was originally prepared for the Death Stalker, but the Death Stalker is gone. The extra Scholar Mobile Armor was because the production capacity was not controlled when it was first produced. The Truth Order could not find so many Untouchables to wear them, so it would be fine to give a few to their partners.

Plumeria and the Forge Sage did not stay on Badab for too long. They left soon, leaving the lingering war in the hive city below waiting to be settled.

In the 40th Millennium, in the 002nd year, the Astral Claws Chapter, with the assistance of the 6th Expeditionary Fleet of the Terran Crusade, killed Governor Badab and seized power.

In the same year, the expeditionary fleet set out from Badab and went deep into the Maelstrom.

On the way to the border of the Great Whirlpool, Plumeria discussed the next issues with Vice Admiral Oguma, Forging Sage Macbeth, and Inquisitor Camus.

“The situation like Badab is by no means an isolated case in the Empire. There are too many local dignitaries who are greedy for power and are unwilling to be governed by Terra, and are even more unwilling to see the Stargate network connected – that would greatly strengthen Terra’s centralization.” Camus said in a firm tone:

“We will encounter similar problems in the galaxies we pass through in the future. Only by cutting through the mess quickly can we minimize the losses. The treatment of Badab this time is a good reference.”

“But the vast majority of the empire’s population are illiterate civilians. They have nothing but their simple faith in the Emperor and their own flesh and blood.” Oguma shook his head.

“Blindly purging the nobility will only lead to a lack of talent in the empire. Although it is a bit unpleasant, we have to admit that the more educated local nobles have always been an important source of talent for the empire. The vast majority of the existing ruling and management classes are from noble families. They are the backbone of the empire.”

It would be fine to purge one Badab, but if they do too many such things, the human empire will fall apart before the expedition fleet arrives on Terra.

“Well, the same thing we’ve encountered will happen to other expedition fleets sooner or later. Let’s see how they deal with it.” Plumeria smiled and said, “For now, let’s focus on the mission at hand.”

That is, to find the treasure deep in the maelstrom for the Star-Ballist.

Macbeth’s artificial eye rolled around and asked, “I agree, but now that we are about to enter the whirlpool, should you also tell us what the treasure that the Star Bullet is looking for is?”

Kamui and Oguma nodded. This was exactly what they wanted to know.

“Of course, it’s time to be honest with each other.”

Plumeria smiled brightly and said:

“The treasure that the leader needs is called: Organic Codex.”

Chapter 187 Gormek

“Organic Encyclopedia”, as the name suggests, is a comprehensive encyclopedia that records a large amount of genetic data of organic life.

This is an ancient relic from tens of millions of years ago, and it is also the name of the mechanical empire that left this relic.

The Gentle Mechanical Empire is dedicated to collecting, indexing and storing the genetic data of every organic life in the universe, hoping to prevent the extinction of organic life in some future galactic-scale astronomical catastrophe.

However, their work was not welcomed by everyone, and the mechanical empire was destroyed under the obstruction of stupid fanatics and vicious hive minds. Their work was ultimately unfinished, leaving behind only an “organic codex” that was not yet completed but still stored a large amount of precious genetic data.

Tzeentch, the Lord of Change, claimed that the organic codex had fallen into the Maelstrom, so the 6th Expeditionary Fleet arrived here.

The mighty fleet dragged dense streams of light across the deep space, passing through the thin areas of turbulent nebulae, leaving the planet named “Kovalik II” by the human empire far behind.

Kovalik II is the human empire’s frontline outpost outside the Maelstrom. Several asteroid mining sites and monitoring stations are located here, constantly monitoring the movements of pirates and heretics in the Maelstrom.

Crossing Kovalik and going deeper into the turbulence meant that they had crossed the boundary between reality and illusion. The starry sky ahead was no longer clear and bright. The viscous blue-purple star cluster was like a pot of boiling paint that was constantly stirred. The suffocating feeling that came towards them was enough to drive mortals with weak minds crazy even if they only took a quick look.

“The tachyon sensor has failed, the auspex’s operation is restricted, and we have entered the vortex turbulence. Very good.” Plumeria stood on the bridge of the Malice, gazing at the strange starry sky in front of her, as thick as a pot of soup.

“Are you scared? The psychic supervisor who is usually so serious and majestic, turns out to be as scared as a little girl who sees Warcraft for the first time and whose legs become weak~” A soft and velvety female voice sounded faintly in her mind, with a little bit of teasing and full of pride.

“If you don’t shut up within two seconds, I will send the photos of you wetting the bed as a child to all the warships.” Plumeria said lightly.

So the vicious woman shut up.

Plumeria sighed, somewhat helplessly.

The predecessor of the battleship Machine Soul of the Malice was born in a local military aristocratic family in Falla. She was a spoiled and arrogant young lady. Strictly speaking, she has some kinship with Russell, who once served as the governor of Falla.

If it weren’t for these factors, given the psychic supervisor’s hot temper, he should have asked Joshua for a dose of soul-eating poison before setting out, so as to replace the machine soul for the Vicious Woman.

After the vicious woman fell silent and dared not speak, Plumeria calmed down her mixed feelings of anger and fear. She unbuttoned the two buttons under her collar with one hand and carefully pulled out a small and exquisite pendant from her chest.

This was what Russell had given her before he left. The light golden chain sparkled under the starlight, and the small crystal hanging at the end was only half the size of a little finger, with a hint of warm body temperature. This was a fragment of the Zelo Soul Stone, which in a sense could also be called the “Star Bullet’s Protection.”

The Great Vortex is an eternally sweeping warp storm, a broken area where the real universe and the warp overlap, where the laws of physics have lost their meaning. Conventional detectors are either completely paralyzed or their functions are greatly limited, and only psychic divination arrays and the soul circuits of the Eldar can be used to conduct extremely dangerous warp observations.

But the danger is only relative, far from absolute.

Plumeria lowered her eyes to examine the Soul Stone fragment between her fingers, silently repeating the instructions given to her by the Star Bullet before she left:

“Psykers holding the fragments of the Zelo Soulstone are protected by the Void Return, and can ignore the turbulent waves of the Soul Sea, and are not afraid of the vortex of the Warp that drags people into the abyss. You can freely conduct stable Warp observation without risk – you are the eyes of the 6th Expeditionary Fleet. In the Great Vortex, our fleet will be more comfortable than any Chaos believers and Warp demons.”

“I will definitely live up to your trust…” Plumeria held the soul stone fragments in front of her chest with both hands. Her emerald green eyes were as deep as the rootless and bottomless dark abyss at this moment. She looked far away at the strange starry sky in front of her, which was sometimes mottled and sometimes sticky.

The Vice Admiral of the Empire, Oguma, quickly came up behind Plumeria and asked in a low voice: “The Star Bullet only told us that the Organic Codex is in the Great Vortex, but we don’t know where the exact coordinates are in the Great Vortex… Should we split up and search from different directions?”

Oguma had a clear understanding of the strength of the 6th Expeditionary Fleet. In his opinion, although acting separately would be more dangerous, it would greatly increase the speed of the search.

Plumeria shook her head and rejected his suggestion.

The Great Whirlpool is a very wide area filled with supernatural phenomena that defy common sense. Even if they split up, the search efficiency would not be improved much. On the contrary, without her guidance, the situation of other branch teams would be very dangerous, and the benefits would be completely disproportionate to the risks.

“We are outsiders and know almost nothing about the real situation in the vortex. Instead of running around like headless flies and bumping into walls, it is better to take the initiative and let the locals who are more familiar with the local situation provide us with intelligence.” Plumeria said.

“What do you mean…?” Oguma felt that this woman’s idea was somewhat dangerous.

Plumeria raised her hand, and the aggrieved and vicious woman machine soul immediately projected the real-time star map that the 6th Expeditionary Fleet mapped while advancing in front of the two of them. Combined with some of the Great Whirlpool Star Region intelligence provided by the Star Claws, a grand Whirlpool Star Map was formed – most of the areas were gray and unexplored.

“We entered the Great Vortex from the ‘Left Gate’ star field, where the turbulence in the warp is relatively mild. This is also the area most favored by the alien pirates and Chaos traitors who attack the Empire.” Plumeria paused and said, “If we go through the ‘Left Gate’ and continue to go deeper into the vortex, we will be close to a planet called ‘Gormek’.”

Oguma was stunned for a moment. He was a soldier from the Trodom Galaxy in the Far East. He knew very little about the information about the Great Whirlpool in the center of the Milky Way. Fortunately, Plumeria immediately gave a corresponding explanation:

“Gormek is a demon planet completely dominated by the Warp. It is controlled by the traitor ‘Word Bearers’ Legion that has fallen into Chaos and used as a frontline base and arsenal for the Black Crusade against the Empire.”

Plumeria’s deep gaze swept across the swirling star map in front of her, which was filled with unknown darkness. Then she looked back at the endless space in front of her: “Pass the order down. There is no need to save the consumption of psychic dust. Everyone activate the psychic invisibility field. We are ready to go to Gormek and raid the Word Bearers.”

“Understood.” Oguma nodded and turned back to the cabin.

A moment later, the mighty fleet gradually disappeared in the ever-changing space turbulence of the Great Whirlpool Star Region. The 6th Expeditionary Fleet brought a large amount of precious psychic dust from Faya, in order to use it when it was really needed, such as now.

Thanks to Plumeria’s precise warp navigation, the expedition fleet was able to find its direction in the turbulent Maelstrom star field, avoid the small warp storms that then wandered between different galaxies, and approach the target at the fastest speed and through the most stable route.

Along the way, they also encountered sporadic pirate ships hiding in hidden asteroid belts, or greenskin bandits traveling around on meteorites, and even occasionally encountered a Dark Eldar attack boat heading towards the Zuomen star field, but in order not to alert the enemy, Oguma never commanded the fleet to launch an attack.

The huge fleet sneaked through the turbulent stars. The astronomical landscape and subspace illusions in front of them changed rapidly and were disorienting, but under the guidance of Plumeria, their direction of progress was always clear.

In this area where reality and fantasy overlap, there is no concept of time. Perhaps after 7 days, or perhaps after 10 years, the old planet covered with rust finally appeared in the field of vision of the augur.

“That’s Gormek, the military base of the Word Bearers.” Plumeria whispered to herself, “But no ships were found in the planet’s orbit… No, there are two light cruisers parked in the near orbit of Gormek, and it seems that? They are launching orbital bombardment on Gormek?”

Is Chaos fighting among himself again?

There was not much point in conducting battlefield reconnaissance in the chaotic area of ​​the Maelstrom with limited vision. After thinking for a moment, Plumeria gave the order to attack.

Soon, the expeditionary fleet that had been preparing for battle for a long time was quickly divided into three, with the main ships, the Evil Words and the Fire of Confession, each leading an assault fleet to rush to the front, launching a pincer attack on the demon world Gormek from two directions at the same time.

The three heavy artillery ships carrying crested bows, the Jealous Lady, the Lost Truth, and the Unfinished Business, stayed at a distance.

The two commandos quickly took their positions, and at a command from Vice Admiral Oguma, three beams of light pierced through the illusory curtain.

The tachyon light spears and focused arcs pierced the two light cruisers anchored above Gormek with incredible precision. Before the people on the ships could react, the two assault fleets that had already been in position rushed over one after another.

The crew on the cruiser had just been launching orbital strikes on the demon world below them, but when they turned around, they heard an urgent alarm that the hull was severely damaged. In the blink of an eye, the Valkyrie-class battleship, which was larger and thicker than the Queen of Glory, had rushed in front of them, and boarding torpedoes penetrated the armor and smashed in on them.

The instantaneous focused arc paralyzed the energy systems of the two light cruisers with surgical precision without damaging the core reactors and causing the ships to be blown up, because their mission this time was not to annihilate the ships, but to capture as many prisoners as possible and torture them for intelligence.

While the heretics on the ship were still unresponsive and at a loss, a large group of fully armed mortals, led by the Night Knights and the Eldar Banshee Squad, launched a boarding attack on them.

The cabin with its energy system paralyzed was completely dark. If one listened carefully, one could even hear some strange rustling noises and moaning and whispering that seemed to come from the abyss of hell.

Even for the battle-hardened Astartes, boarding a Chaos warship was an extremely dangerous and desperate act. Before actually stepping onto the ancient deck filled with Chaos, no one knew what kind of things were hidden in these ancient warships that had been corroded by Chaos for hundreds or thousands of years. For mortal soldiers, it was even more of a death sentence.

But not now.

Several tall mechanical angels walked at the head, tail, and center of the attacking team. Their heavy footsteps covered up the sound of the sophisticated machinery running inside the armor.

The untouchables driving mobile armor brought a very uncomfortable feeling of oppression and disgust to their comrades, but no one complained. Because every soldier knew in their hearts that only by staying with the Knights of the Night could they be free from the influence of the warp.

Soon, the first wave of battle broke out between the boarding troops and the crew on the ship…perhaps it cannot be called a battle.

A psychic wizard with extremely fast reaction speed penetrated into the cabin before the boarding troops’ offensive was formed, and killed a large number of prisoners imprisoned inside with extremely brutal means – most of them were Imperial civilians captured from outside the Maelstrom – using 88 innocent skulls as sacrifices, he completed the blood sacrifice ritual to summon the Khorne demon called “Blood Crusher”.

“Messenger of blood, embodiment of war! I call you here with killing and skulls, to release the wrath of the Blood God and burn my enemies…” The Chaos Wizard knelt on the ground, reciting aloud the praises to the Lord of Skulls.

The beast’s roar and murderous howl sounded one after another, and the elite vampire riding the bronze bull rushed out of the blood with high spirits, as if the temperature in the cabin had risen by several degrees. The skull sacrifice just now made it very satisfied, and after seeing the black mass of human soldiers filling the cabin, it was even more satisfied.

The bronze bull, whose body was burning with flames, carried its master forward impatiently. The Blood God’s warriors did not show any fear despite being outnumbered. They were eager to harvest more blood and skulls to offer to the Blood God.

But as the distance between the Blood-Crushing Cavalry charging at full speed and the Night-Embracing Knights at the spearhead of the attacking force narrowed rapidly, a horrifying scene occurred.

The vampire on the back of the bronze bull found that his body was becoming weak, and the blazing flames on the bronze bull became shaky, like a candle in the wind that could go out at any time. Even the resistance to magic and ranged weapons bestowed by the Blood God was disappearing rapidly.

The bronze bull was still charging forward fearlessly. In front of it, the mechanical angel spread its armed wings, and the erupting sea of ​​plasma submerged everything in front of it.

Along with the Night Knights, a large number of soldiers behind them also opened fire. Every mortal soldier of the 6th Expeditionary Fleet was equipped with at least 1 plasma pistol, 1 pulse rifle, and 3 melta/nuclear grenades, as well as a full set of plastic steel power armor.

Although due to objective limitations such as physical strength and cost, the plastic steel armor they wear, which is mass-produced by fully automatic industrial production lines, is far inferior to the ceramic steel power armor of Space Marines in terms of defensive performance, and the standard industrial sizes that cannot be customized are not very suitable. Even so, their equipment level is better than that of most Imperial Guard soldiers in the human empire.

Such a team, combined with super-heavy-armored untouchables capable of shielding themselves from the effects of the warp, is fully qualified to engage in close combat with any extraordinary enemy.

Almost in an instant, the Khorne Blood Crusher Cavalry, together with the Vampires and the Bronze Bulls summoned by 88 skulls, died tragically under the powerful fire of the Night Knights – they were not exiled back to the Warp, but were completely annihilated in the true sense. The Untouchables are one of the very rare means that can truly kill Warp demons.

“Messenger…Blood God!” The wizard was so shocked that his legs went limp and he collapsed in a pool of blood.

Looking at the invading troops rapidly advancing towards him in the cabin corridor, the wizard subconsciously wanted to use psychic magic to attack, but no matter whether it was psychic fire or vicious curse spell, the effect of the subspace spell would immediately disappear once it approached the tall mechanical angel. Such a scene completely destroyed his psychological defenses.

After arresting the Chaos Sorcerer, the attacking force quickly cleared out the few surviving prisoners in the cell and sent them back to the Malice, then continued to move deeper to meet up with the attacking team from other directions.

The boarding attack on the two light cruisers ended with amazing efficiency, and the 6th Expeditionary Fleet successfully seized control of the enemy ships swiftly and efficiently.

But what is troubling is that there are no Chaos Astartes suspected to be the Word Bearers on these two ships. There are only some Chaos believers, mortal slaves and other insignificant minor characters.

“We found intact armories on both cruisers, which contained some large-scale weapons that only Astartes could use, as well as damaged parts of power armor.”

On the main battleship, the Vicious Woman, the commander of this offensive, Oguma, reported to Plumeria: “It is certain that these two ships do belong to the Chaos Astartes warband, but the Space Marines on board disappeared for some reason – not even one person was left behind.”

This was not a strange phenomenon that could be explained by “the main force went out in full force to attack a certain target.” Even a warband with a chaotic organization would usually have logistics units such as technical sergeants and pharmacists staying on the warships, not to mention the Word Bearers, the first rebel legion, whose manpower was not so tight.

“Macbeth is trying to crack the enemy ship’s data center, and Camus has begun interrogating the prisoners. Perhaps they can get some useful information for us.”

Plumeria looked down at the old planet covered with rust and smoke and said, “Before the two of them achieve their goals, we need to take the initiative. Pass on my order. All warships immediately launch a selective orbital bombardment of all densely built areas on this planet.”

“After a round of bombing, immediately start a full-scale airborne attack.”

Whether the Chaos camp is fighting among themselves or not, it makes no difference to her. She will just beat them up first.